I think a fork lockout for a course like Leadville helps most when you’re out of the saddle climbing. I do most of my climbing seated. Only occasionally stand and lockout manually when I do that.
I use the Gu gel flasks. Holds 6 Gu gels, 600 calories per flask. They collapse down when empty. So nice vs the more solid flasks.
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Officially in for this year as Day 7 of the Breckville week. Have been wanting to go back and chase a sub 7 (and Jonathan has me inspired) but not sure that will be in the cards after 6 days of Breck Epic, so leaning towards making it a fun day out. Anyone else doing the double header?
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I’d recommend the lockout too if your fork / shock support it. They’re usually done together, but It’s the shock lockout, not the fork, that makes the bigger difference though.
Or just roll with it, and maybe go a little higher air pressure on the shock / tweak shock settings depending on how it pedals.
This is awesome! I’m doing the first three days of Breck Epic and going to try and win one of the silly social media entry giveaways from the sponsors (TrainingPeaks, Cuore etc) for Leadville.
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You could do the Double.
Maah Daah Hey on the 5th and Leadville 10 days later.
Or triple and Toss in Brek, but you may get a red day or two.
Has anyone heard about updated crew information for 2026?
The Leadville website initially had some vague information on a lottery system for twin lakes but took that down a month or more ago now and the site has just said ‘crew information for 2026 coming soon’.
Just want to make sure I haven’t missed emails or anything with info on crews.
So how’s your training coming along so far? Everyone on track or what stage are you at?
After getting in back in January I think I panicked and was very scattered with not too much structure and 100% overdoing it - now feeling a little more comfortable with where I am. If anything I think I might be going too hard - too early. (if there’s such a thing) But I’m progressing and seeing numbers increase so I keep going hard-ish and have seen about a 10w increase even from the screen grab below.
I’m working on my on bike nutrition and that’s helped a bunch over the last few months - once this race is done, if I never see another gel, I’ll be quite happy. So I’m holding power longer and will try to do a mix of liquid and solid on the day
But it got me thinking about what everyone is doing that aspire for sub 9 - what are you focusing on for the coming couple of months and more importantly how not to ensure you don’t burn out doing too much too soon?
I’m 53, super light, all my riding is outdoors with 2 days a week of structure and at least one bigger ride 6-7 hours on Saturday where I’m aiming for about .75iF - which is where I expect to spend most of my day at Leadville, just with a higher FTP than I have now. 3 weeks on, 1 week deload, test and repeat.
What else should I be considering 5 months out?
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It’s absolutely a thing, so it’s good that you are aware of the risk. In my opinion, the risk of mental burnout is probably higher than the physical side, at least that’s my experience. If you started in Jan, that’s 7 months before Leadville. That’s a long time to be “on”, I’d definitely split that into 2 big blocks with the first being a little more laid back. Then, a couple week mini-break with just easy riding and then make a big final push for Leadville. For me, my top priority is Unbound at the end of May and starting build 2 right now where things really get hard for the next month before starting to easy off in early May. After that, it’s a couple weeks break/fun riding and then re-build a bit for Leadville. This will be my 3rd year doing those 2 races and the prior 2 years my training was pretty unstructured between Unbound and Leadville. Part of that is motivation and part is that it’s getting pretty hot to be doing outdoor intervals in Texas. I usually have enough residual fitness from Unbound to sneak in under 9, but the training hasn’t been ideal. If I didn’t have unbound in my sights, I’d be doing a much less aggressive build into Leadville to avoid burnout.
Sounds like you are covering the big stuff. If you are doing any of your training on a road or gravel bike, consider switching it all to MTB. Once Unbound is done, gravel tires and a 38t ring will be going on my MTB for everything, including group rides.
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5 Months out - I’d be focusing on Build work and getting my FTP up as high as I can, with the opportunity to focus on extending duration and total volume now through the race, so don’t marginalize your interval sessions this time of year.
I’m not sure I’ve ever done a .75 IF Training ride in the 6+ hour range. I’ve done .8 for 4, dropping to .71-.72 for 6+ a bunch, but can’t say I’ve ever tried to hold .75 for 6+ outside a race.
Me personally: VO2 Block done. First Threshold & Over/Under Block Done. And, I’m finally back in the outdoor riding season where I can actually start incorporating the longer rides that I won’t do on the trainer. But - recovery week now so I’ve done a grand total of 60 minutes at .4 IF and a couple easy walks over the last 3 days…
FTP is probably getting close to where I was last year which is good, My endurance fitness is better than expected which is good. But, I need to lose 10# between now and the race because I haven’t been as diligent about it which isn’t so good…. But, I usually start melting it off pretty quick as my summer volume jumps and I start paying attention.
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I have three ~week-long vacations between now and Leadville. Each one is days ~14-7 before my three main races this year - Moab Rocks, Leadville Silver Rush and Leadville100. Each vacation at sea level or close to it (from my home elevation of 6700 feet). It’s not ideal timing, but that’s family life for you.
So those three weeks are largely going to be off the bike. Except for maybe the 2nd vacation which is in Vancouver - and maybe I can convince my wife to let me do a day trip to Whistler to ride 
I’ve been busy at work recently, so only riding 6-8hrs per week. I’d prefer to be getting more hours in, but am doing what I can within constraints.
I’m shooting for sub 10. I’ve done that 2x before, but last time was 2019. I’ll need to ramp up my volume starting soon to hit that goal I think.
Whoa! .75IF for a 6 hour ride would absolutely smoke me. And if I’m reading your chart correctly, it looks Iike your best 20 minutes is north of 5 w/kg? Assuming you’re comfortable on a mtn bike, I’d wager you’re capable of the 8 hour range.
For me, I started in November with zone2 and long low end tempo stuff with a big stretch for the Rapha Festive 500 where it felt like I really kicked it into training gear. Recently finished a small vO2 block. Will be focusing on bringing it back down to more time at just over threshold with a lot of endurance and trying to get in more and more 4-5+ hour rides and start mixing in some 6 hour rides in May with low priority gravel races.
I’m sitting right around 3.9+ w/kg ftp right now but haven’t done well this winter with the weight management. Started really focusing though recently and it’s coming off quickly. I’m not sure 4.5 w/kg is obtainable for me but I’d like to get to as close to 4.5 w/kg ftp, 6 w/kg 5 minute power, and feel strong on high zone2 6+ hour rides (200w average). I’m a believer that the 5 minute power matters at Leadville. I think a strong 5 minute power can keep you far away from the red on all of the non walking steeper climbing sections (bottom of Kevins, top punches of Columbine, lots of chunky sections on the second half of Powerline).
Good luck all! Felt amazing on my workout today so figured I’d share. 3x10 threshold+ bookending high tempo.
And fyi my goal is 8:30 shape to add a buffer for the big buckle if the unexpected flat or mechanical happens day of.
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I personally worry more about the mental burnout, as long as you take regular recovery weeks (3 on, 1 off for me). And, if you throw in a big race / event (or even a huge training ride at the end of a block) one week may not do it, you may need 2 or even more to fully snap back.
During a recovery week, you’re not off the bike, but I also don’t subscribe to it just being an “endurance week” either - I take mine really chill and definitely not doing normal Z2 pace rides. This week for me has been Rest, Rest, 60 min @ .45 IF, today is 90 min at .55 IF if the legs feel okay, tomorrow is a couple short openers and 30 min at .60 IF, and it’ll be the weekend before I do an easy sweet spot ride and a shorter / easier long Z2 ride before starting to work again next week. And I generally ride 14-15 hours a week (or more), so that’s a pretty big drop-off for me.
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I think that’s where I’m at or very close to right now. I see an issue holding the intensity I’m at for another 5 months and might look to take a bit of a break at the end of April and maybe just ride for fun and try not lose too much fitness. I feel marginally less excited about riding at this intensity than I did 2 months ago and I feel like if I keep going like I am I’m going to be burnt out and probably over trained and consequently not fresh by August.
That’s 2 great races you have on the calendar.
Great tip. Right now I’m all road and gravel just for consistency sake but need to make the switch pretty soon and make it all MTB…
That’s pretty much where I am - trying to push that higher right now and just done another round of testing so new FTP set and start pushing a little deeper next week with some sweetspot work. My endurance is pretty good, but not yet tested in heat - but I’m struggling with my 12-20 minute tests so need to focus on that a little bit.
I find that my weight fluctuates a bit this time of year as I start eating differently - but feel like I should be good by the time of the race. Hard to not eat it all when you’re ramping up the volume.
This is exactly where I am right now. End of block last week, 2 super intense rides to finish with and I’m toast.
Last weeks TSS was about 1300 and recovery week is about 880 so I think I need to drop that a bit to fully recover and not worry too much about the CTL - I feel better about doing less after seeing your rest week schedule.
I’ve never done a 1300 TSS week. My CTL peaks in the 80’s though and hours peak 15-20. If you’re doing a 1300 TSS week I’d hope you’re doing significantly more volume at a higher CTL.
880 sounds way too high for a recovery week. General target is 40% of your normal weekly volume.
Some of those numbers would make me worry about over-training or burning yourself out. What’s your CTL and average weekly volume?
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So many things to consider when we’re prepping for this one - I find that the weight, once you’re conscious of where you are and want to be is relatively easy to manage once you’re training. It takes me a while to adapt once I start to up the intensity - I overeat to feed the body and put on a few lbs and then I find what works for me. I track my food and weight for a month in MyFitnessPal and then I kind of forget about it.
Hopefully you can drop the weight and hit your marks - which are pretty much along the same lines as I have. I’m aiming for 8.5h with a bit of a buffer for mechanicals or goofy because I’m tired aid stops.
CTL is 131 and I usually average about 20-23 hours per week. 16 this week - but that’s because of testing and a few other life variables.
1300 was a little over what was planned - went a little longer on the Saturday ride and Sunday had an extra spicy group ride where the iF was .89 - so dug myself into a bit of a hole.
Your CTL is definitely way, way higher than most, but still, for your recovery weeks I’d take the average TSS of your “work” weeks, and target 40% of that at endurance / recovery pace.
Going too hard there for too long with the volume and CTL you’re doing could come back to bite you and you could be hurting, not helping. I don’t want to say you definitely are, but you definitely could be overdoing it this early. (Lots of potential red flags in your posts above for me)
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